The Records Management and Preservation Board (RMPB) awarded $335,070 in grant funds to
24 West Virginia county commissions for county records management and preservation projects
through its County Records Management and Preservation Grants program. The board reviewed
submissions and made its recommendations in January for projects to improve management,
storage conditions, access and preservation of public records. Following official letters
announcing the successful grants in early March, technical assistance and site visits were
conducted by staff to help with setting the grants up to start with the beginning of the new fiscal
year July 1. Grant awards range from $4,000 to $34,000. Six of the 24 counties receiving funds
are third-time successful grant applicants; 11 counties are second-time grant applicants; and
seven counties are first-time recipients. A complete list of recipients is attached.

The RMPB, with its continuing interest in addressing records storage and management issues in
the court houses, announced three grant criteria in its invitation to county commission applicants
last September. The three criteria were: remove non-records and accumulations of records having
reached or exceeded required retention periods; provide proper and improved storage of
permanent or long-term records; and conduct a complete records inventory and condition
assessment, and develop a master records management plan for county records. In the third
round of grant announcements, the board also considered funding projects for reformatting
(converting) records scheduled as permanent, which require a high rate of access and for which
an eye-readable format exists or will be created (microfilm) and maintained as a security backup
in proper environmental conditions.

Funding for the County Records Management and Preservation Program is through legislative
appropriation of funds deposited in the public records and preservation revenue account from
records filing fees collected by county clerks. The funds serve as incentives to equip county
officials to improve the management and preservation of their public records. The RMPB was
created by the West Virginia Legislature in 2000 to develop uniform county records management
programs. Its primary focus is to establish guidelines and provide technical assistance to address
the needs of the records of county governments through a uniform records management system,
and to further encourage adoption of these goals through the county records grant program. In
pursuit of these goals, the RMPB authorized a statewide survey and report on the current state of
county records, developed rules for the management of records and the records grant program, a
County Records Management Manual for county offices, and sponsors records management
workshops for county officials and staffs. The next grant cycle and priorities will be announced
September 1, 2006, for fiscal year 2007-08.

For more information about the RMPB's annual grant program or the work of the board, contact
Fredrick H. Armstrong, state archivist with the West Virginia State Archives, by phone at (304)
558-0230, ext. 164, by e-mail at fharmstrong@wvculture.org, or by mail at
Records Management and Preservation Board, West Virginia Division of Culture and History,
Building 9, 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East, Charleston, WV 25305-0300. Information can be
accessed electronically at
www.wvculture.org/history/rmpb/rmpb.html.